Treasure by Megan Derr Page B

different from Kundou. Kin looked out over the sea, thoughts drifting from the journey to his passengers, to Pozhar, to Sanhoshi all the way at the end of the journey.
    Why in the name of the dragons would a royal prince want to journey there? How did he even know it existed? Kin knew veteran sailors who were ignorant of the island's existence, and it was not on any maps save those that he and Raiden had altered and kept very close.
    He was pulled abruptly from his thoughts when Samé fell silent mid-sentence. Kin saw the look on Samé's face and followed the direction his gaze, completely unsurprised to see that Nankyokukai had come on deck. Leaving Samé, Kin moved down to the main deck and approached. "Highness, was there something you needed?"
    "No," Nankyokukai replied. "You can stop calling me Highness; there is very little need for that out here." He swept his arm out to encompass the ship and the sea. "Kyo will suffice, please."
    "Kyo," Kin repeated obediently, feeling awkward at such informality—feeling awkward, period. What did one say to a prince? He could not converse the way Raiden did, and was not inclined to anyway, but he refused to look like an uneducated idiot on his own ship, no matter how much that was true.  He was an officer because he was good at his job and Raiden trusted him, no matter his lack of station or formal education. "Did you grow tired of discussing tariffs?"
    Kyo laughed. "I wanted to see the ocean. I thought it would look the same whether I saw it from a ship or my bedroom window, but it looks different from here."
    "The protections of Kundou are gone here," Kin replied. "The water is deep. They say that in some places it goes on forever, too deep for any but a god to comprehend."
    "I believe it," Kyo said, looking out over the water again. The wind flew about them, stirring his hair and hiding his face from view.
    Kin fought a strange urge to reach out and brush it back, keep it back, so that Kyo was not hidden from him. "You cut your hair, Highness."
    "I, for one, did not want to try to wash and comb it throughout this journey. It is difficult enough in the palace where every luxury is at my disposal to help tend it." He reached up to touch the back of his neck. "It feels very strange having my neck bare." He smiled ruefully, then let his hand fall.
    Once more Kin had to fight an urge to touch. He could only imagine the penalties for touching Kyo without permission, and it made no sense he wanted to anyway. But that was a lie, and he knew it. Raiden loved to mock him for being susceptible to pretty things, especially pretty men. Kin had never denied the weakness, or the trouble it had gotten him, though he thought it a bit ridiculous that Raiden mocked him. Kin, at least, had never been banned from a brothel for causing trouble.
    Thinking of Raiden and brothels reminded him of Takara. "Are you certain you should be leaving Shima alone with your secretary? He looked as though he might bite."
    "With all due respect, Raiden looked as though he would not mind," Kyo drawled.
    Despite himself, Kin laughed. "Fair enough." He moved to the railing and leaned over it, arms braced on the edge, and stared out at the sea himself, wondering what it looked like through the eyes of someone new to sailing. He had been that person, once, but he no longer remembered that moment.
    The sea, to him, was home and hostile territory all rolled into one. Already he could feel the perpetual itch of his merman features wanting to come out. Being out at sea made the fangs and scales harder to suppress. His mouth tightened as he wondered how Kyo and Takara would react the first time his merman form took control. There were reasons he worked hard to keep a stable crew, and finding replacements when they did leave or died was difficult. Those willing to stay on such a dangerous ship, with a captain who attracted that danger, were precious few.
    He startled when fingers touched his arm, and he jerked back reflexively.